Fresh From the Bench: Latest Federal Circuit Court Case

CASE OF THE WEEK

Niazi Licensing Corporation v. St. Jude Medical SC, Inc., Appeal No. 2021-1864 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 11, 2022)

The Federal Circuit’s only precedential patent decision this week comes on appeal from a district court decision finding invalidity, granting summary judgment of no induced infringement, and imposing sanctions pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37. The Federal Circuit affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded, addressing several discrete issues relating to validity and infringement, evidentiary challenges, and sanctions.

The patent at issue (the ’268 patent) related to medical treatments for congestive heart failure and involved method claims pertaining to “a double catheter—for cannulating the coronary sinus without significant manipulation.”